de of het etiket?
het etiket
label
noun · /ˌeː.tiˈkɛt/
It is “het etiket”. The plural is “de etiketten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: etiket
Forms
- Article
- het etiket
- Plural
- de etiketten
- Diminutive
- het etiketje
- Also means
- tag
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Lees het etiket goed voor gebruik.
Read the label carefully before use.
Op het etiket staat belangrijke informatie.
Important information is on the label.
Vergeet niet het etiket te controleren.
Don't forget to check the label.
Why this article
No rule predicts it
This one has to be memorised. No spelling pattern marks it as neuter, which is exactly why it is worth learning as “het etiket” rather than as “etiket” on its own.
The rules that do work
- • Every plural takes “de”, without exception.
- • Every diminutive ending in -je takes “het”, without exception.
- • Nouns ending in -ing, -heid, -tie, -teit or -schap take “de”.
- • Roughly two thirds of all nouns take “de”, so it is the better guess.
Other nouns whose article has to be memorised
Stop guessing de and het
Woordje has a practice mode for exactly this: it shows a noun and asks for the article, and keeps asking until you stop getting it wrong.